X Meets Y: Live Comp Critique—Positioning Your Manuscript to Sell
May 20, 2025
Online event
Live Comp Critique with literary agent Kelly Dyksterhouse. What do your comps say about your manuscript? Whether you're in the query trenches or still in the drafting stage, knowing where your book fits in the market is crucial to hooking agents and selling to publishers. Join us for a chance to receive live feedback on your comp titles and hear an agent's expectations and first impressions on your submission. A limited number of written critiques also available at an additional cost.
Quick Facts
HOST REGION: Eastern Pennsylvania
CONTACT: Joanne Roberts [email protected]
COST:
- Premium Members: $15 USD
- Preview Plan: $25 USD
WRITTEN CRITIQUES: available at an additional cost; scroll down for more information
BEFORE THE EVENT: Registered participants may submit comps for their WIP along with manuscript title and genre.
Anonymous comps will be read during the Zoom event as time permits and cold-critiqued by our faculty live.
RECORDING
The webinar will be recorded, and the recording will be available for one month following the event. Attendees will receive a link and a password by email about two days after the event.
REGISTRATION CONFIRMATIONS
Upon completion of payment, you will receive a payment confirmation by email. You will also find a registration confirmation on the website that will include event-specific details. Go to your Member Home and click on My Events under the black bar at the top of the page. All events you have registered will be displayed on this page. If there are additional meeting details (i.e. Zoom links for virtual events or materials required for the event), this information will be found under the green Meeting Info button.
REFUND POLICY
Registration fees for webinars and virtual events are nonrefundable because recordings are available for 30 days following the broadcast. For more information on our refund policy, click here. By registering for this event, you agree that you have read and understand the refund policy for this event.
Meet the Faculty
About Kelly
Kelly Dyksterhouse is a literary agent with the Tobias Literary Agency. She has a MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and specializes in building the careers of authors and illustrators who work on a broad range of projects from picture books to young adult novels, graphic novels, and fascinating nonfiction for the youth market. In picture books she is drawn to stories that are subversively funny and accessible to the child reader; in MG she is on the hunt for books with series potential, contemporary adventure stories and grounded fantasy from a unique perspective; in YA, she loves lush prose, contained settings, historical novels that feel relevant, and fantasy featuring a diverse perspective; she looks for NF projects with a strong hook that expand her understanding in surprising ways.
Description
Submit the comp titles for your picture book or novel for an opportunity to receive live feedback during the zoom session. We regret that there may not be time to review all submissions, but will try to accommodate a variety of genres and as many submissions as possible.
How to participate live:
Free with registration--
Deadline:
- Send your submission to Joanne, [email protected], by 11:59 PM ET Sunday, 5/11/25.
- Please put “X Meets Y_comp titles” in the subject line of your email.
For all submissions, format your work in 12 point font, with one-inch margins, and double spacing. (US Letter paper size)
What to send:
For ALL GENRES, please send ONE DOCUMENT with the following:
- MANUSCRIPT TITLE, category, genre
- comp titles and/or one line comp formula
⇒example of submission,
- MOLDY BREAD, MG GN Gaslamp Fantasy
- comp For fans of The Glass Scientists, The Mesmerist meets Iron Chef
⇒example of submission,
- THE DRAGON PICNIC, PB Humor
- comps Dragons Are The Worst, by Alex Willan and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems
⇒NO NAMES or other identifying information please.
How to send:
⇒Please SAVE YOUR FILE as a Word doc or PDF as follows: X Meets Y_comp titles_TITLE_GENRE.
⇒For example, if sending comps for a MG Gaslamp Fantasy, you would save the document as follows: X Meets Y_comp titles_MOLDY BREAD_GASLAMP FANTASY
⇒Then send your file to Joanne at [email protected]. The subject should read: X Meets Y_comp titles
PB, MG, & YA critiques available (at additional cost)
ADDITIONAL COST:
- Premium Members: $60 USD
- Preview Plan: $65 USD
For all submissions, format your work in 12 point font, with one-inch margins, and double spacing. (US Letter paper size-Include all materials in the same document; please don’t send two documents.)
- For Picture Book (PB): Please send entire manuscript or dummy and a 1- to 3-sentence pitch including comps (in the same document). Translator submissions should include a brief note about the source work (also in the same document).
- For Middle Grade/Young Adult (MG/YA): Please send up to 10 pages of your manuscript and a 1- to 3-sentence pitch including comps (in the same document). Translator submissions should include a brief note about the source work (also in the same document).
⇒Please include your name on every page of your work as a header or a footer, as well as identifying information on page one: first & last name, email address, title, genre.
⇒Please SAVE YOUR FILE as Webinar Faculty Last Name_Your Last Name_TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT as a PDF or DOC or DOCx.
Example: Dyksterhouse_Roberts_MOLDY BREAD
⇒Then send your file to Joanne at [email protected]. The subject should read: Webinar Faculty Last Name_Your Last Name_TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT (same as saved file name).
Submission deadline: Friday, May 23, 2025.
We anticipate critiques to be returned on or about Monday, June 30, 2025.